About 1 in 300 kids get diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Colin West, was one of them. 

Growing up, my brother Colin was always lively and challenging me. But at about the start of high school he started exhibiting symptoms such as increased thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, and weight loss, and fatigue. Which are all tell tale signs of Type 1 diabetes. After going to the hospital in 2019 his life would change forever, he indeed had Type 1. 

“It felt like the world was crashing around me, like how am I going to deal with this at such a young age. The fact that I had to prick my finger about 4 times a day,” stated West after coming home from the hospital. 

He started to have to do finger sticks to know what his blood sugar level was so he knew how much insulin to inject himself with. That’s at least 3 sticks a day every single day, not to mention shots of insulin too. Which has also affected our traveling, having to wait at least 15 minutes is a real struggle not just for Colin but for all of us. 

“I really have to watch what I eat, I can’t snack like I used to anymore,” West said about how finger sticking has changed his diet. 

Colin went to Camp Freedom in 2019 which is a sleep away camp where people teach kids how to live with Diabetes. At every meal they had to finger stick and inject insulin together. The people who run it are brother and sister who also are diabetic. The camp makes you forget about being diabetic and have fun with other kids.

As Type 1 evolves so does technology. 6 months after being diagnosed he heard about Dexcom, which allows him to see his blood sugar anytime, anywhere. And about 6 months after that Omnipod was introduced, which allows him to inject insulin anytime, anywhere. But even with all the tech, sometimes it fails, and when it does fail he needs to be ready. Which means going back to the old reliable, having to carry needles, insulin, finger stick, and disinfecting wipes. Which for him, is not always easy to keep track of. 

Coming from a family that has no one with either type 1 or 2 it was a real shock to everyone. All of the weight on his shoulders didn’t seem to affect him, he was still a kid and kept his head high. If someone saw him on the street you wouldn’t even notice he had anything wrong with him. Seeing him overcome every obstacle with ease is amazing to watch, especially being my older brother. 

To say something was wrong with him is a bad way to put it. Seeing this all unfold as a kid affected me as well, but seeing my whole family rally around him really changed how we all felt about it. It started as a bad thing but currently it has helped our family become closer and work through challenges such as Type 1 diabetes.